A Blast From the Past
by riddles and secrets
Summary: What if there was another reason why Merlin wasn't himself throughout series 5, what if his past had come back to haunt him? warning mentions of child abuse


**A blast from the past**

That evening, Arthur and Gwen were enjoying their meal; Arthur turned to Merlin and said: "That be all Merlin."

Merlin looked confused: "Sire?"

Arthur said firmly: "That will be all" Merlin gave them a small bow and turned to leave just as he reached the door, Arthur said as afterthought: "Send Gaius to us will you?" Merlin nodded and left the room.

A little while later there was a knock at door and Gaius entered the room, Arthur told him to close the door and sit down. "Merlin said you wanted to see me, I hope both of you are alright?" Gaius asked.

Arthur replied: "We're fine thank you, its Merlin we concerned about; he's not been himself lately."

Gwen continued: "He barely smiles or laughs anymore, and we've tried talking to him about it, but with no success."

Arthur now turned to look Gaius directly in the eye: "You know Merlin better anyone; surely you most know what's bothering him."

Gaius looked thoughtful; he should have known they would notice the change in behaviour sooner or later. He knew couldn't tell them about Modred and the vision Merlin had. However, he could tell them the other bit as he knew Merlin could avoid this forever. So: "I do know what's bothering, but if Iam to tell you, then it must not go beyond the three of us, this is personal and not something I think Merlin would want everybody to know, do I make myself clear?" Both of them nodded.

So Gaius began to tell them: "just before you went to Ismere, Merlin received a letter from Hunith."

"Is she alright?" Gwen asked.

Gaius: "No, her brother had just died."

Arthur sighed: "Oh why didn't he say something if he's grieving then I can give him some time off and he can go and visit Hunith, I'm sure she could with a friendly face if her brother just died."

Gaius: "He's not grieving sire, it's not that simple." At this both Arthur and Gwen looked confused and so Gaius explained: "Before Merlin was born Everard (that his uncle), said that if Hunith ever fell on hard times she was welcome in his home, he was a butcher you see, so was more stable than she was. So when she found out she was pregnant with Merlin."

"She went to go and live with him." Gwen said, catching on.

Gaius: "She did indeed, but he did not like Merlin to say the least I think he was ashamed of Merlin, partly because of Merlin's kind heart but also because of the fact that Merlin was born out of wedlock. Anyway Everard was known for his drinking and when he got drunk he wasn't very pleasant to Merlin, but it took Hunith years to find out. In fact it wasn't until Merlin was 12 that the truth came out, and what happened haunts her to this very day. Now I don't what happened for sure, but I can get pretty good idea, seeing as Merlin is as absolutely covered in scars and each one of his ribs have not been set properly. I suspect that Everard abused Merlin from quite a small age, and now his death has brought back all the memories that Merlin has tried to block out."

* * *

Arthur could not believe it; Merlin had been abused as child white hot anger spread through him at the thought. Then there was fact that Merlin had to deal with this all on own for so long, well not anymore. The next morning when Merlin brought Arthur his breakfast, he asked Merlin to sit down next to him, he did so: "Merlin do you what we were talking to Gaius about last night?" Merlin shook his head and so Arthur pressed on: "We were talking about you, about your uncle and effect his death was having on you."

"Oh that" Merlin said trying his best to not look relieved: "It's all in the past."

"Merlin he abused you didn't he?" Arthur said looking straight at him, after long pause Merlin nodded. Arthur: "Do you want to talk about it?"

Merlin shrugged: "what is there to talk about? We lived with him for many years; he got very drunk and then use to beat me up end of story."

Arthur pressed on: "but it's not is it, because his death affecting you now."

Merlin sighed: "It's just I don't how to react to his death, should I feel relieved that he's dead I mean this is man who haunted my childhood. Or should I feel guilty after all beside my mother he was all the family I had, shouldn't I at least feel ashamed at fact that I never felt anything for him other fear and hatred."

Arthur said very seriously: "Merlin the man beat you up as a child, that's not what I call family. Family are people who care about you and love you, I don't think your uncle ever loved you." He then said as afterthought: "I'm giving you a week off."

Merlin looked shocked: "What, why?"

Arthur replied: "because you need it, go to Eldor and see your mother; you need to get your head around this."

Merlin gave him a small smile: "thank you sire."

**I decided that after a constructive critical review that I should expand on the amount of Arthur and Merlin bro-mance. **


End file.
